Tortured Soul

Ok here's chapter 16 for you lovely people. I was going to post it yesterday but a phone call from a friend and a 2 hour chat later kind sank that idea. This chapter is kinda dropping hints that maybe it won't be much longer but the next chapter might be. I still have no ideas what will happen next. I know how it ends but that really doesn't help.

Demonashes - don't worry about it, I'm just thankful that you reviewed at all. Yes the last chapter was a teaser but then so's this one =)
ASOTA - sorry you kinda lost track of the time scale but hey, at least you know how Tyson feels (and me for that matter!!) It's still the day of rest.
Drake294 - It's good to know you're not running away ;)and as I've said, the next chapter may take awhile but I'll try my best to get it up quickly. I was thinking about Mariah coming into it to help Rei, but for the timescale in the fic itself it really didn't fit. The only reason Rei got there was because he was already on his way.
Kitsune - No I haven't killed him yet and I get the feeling that over the next few chapters I'll probably be ducking knives XD Glad you like it though.

Now on with the fic. I've only read through this chapter once of twice so I apologise if there are any mistakes.


Chapter 16

Tyson shifted in the double bed, turning onto his back and unknowingly pushing down the sheets that covered him. He wasn’t asleep, but wasn’t quite awake yet either. Remnants of a dream floated in front of him, snippets of a conversation he almost remembered danced around just out of hearing range. Kai was there, that much he knew and to him that was all he needed to know.

Cracking one eye just a fraction told him that the sun was out, well getting up after dawn was nothing new to Tyson, he liked to lie in. Somewhere, in a corner of his mind, he took in the fact that the light was coming from the wrong direction. He paid no notice, opting instead to turn onto his side and snuggle with the sheets.

His brain wouldn’t let go of the sun shining in from the wrong direction. ‘Will you just go back to sleep’ Tyson told his brain, ‘it’s not often grampa goes away and I get a lie in’. Determined to go back to his dreams of Kai, Tyson ruthlessly shut out any thoughts that didn’t centre on the man he’d recently admitted he loved. His brain had other ideas. It knew there was something wrong, something Tyson needed to remember so it thought of a new tactic.

Letting out a small pathetic moan, Tyson realised he needed to use the bathroom. ‘Oh, so this is how it is huh?’ he asked his traitorous body, ‘you’re siding with the brain now?’ Groaning and grudgingly letting go of the sheets, Tyson moved his legs to hang over the side of the bed. Keeping his eyes closed, he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, his feet slowly moving down to connect with the door. His body ached like he had run a marathon or two, even the act of licking his dry lips hurt.

‘Why am I aching so much?’ Tyson thought, ‘I think I need to have a word with Kenny about my training’. Tyson began a slow stretch, lifting his arms above his head and clasping his hands together. He pushed his arms back while bringing his chest forward, stretching out the muscles at his neck. He felt the pull more acutely than usual and reiterated to himself that maybe he should lessen his training for a while.

As he let his arms drop back down to his sides, he let his hands cover his eyes. Slowly he began moving his fingers in circles over his eyelids, working away the sleep that still wanted to overtake him. He ran his hands over his entire face, trying to rub some wakefulness into himself, and then he let his head rest in his palms.

Slowly, so as not to cause a sensory overload from the light, he began to open his eyes until they were mere slits across his face. Letting his eyes adjust to the new lighting, he began to stand. Now that he was more awake, things began to occur to the blue haired teen, things he hadn’t noticed before. Why was he in a double bed? He only had a single and he was pretty sure that he had wooden floors, not a rich plush carpet.

Tyson’s eyes flew open as the memories of the last few days bombarded his brain. Him running from Kai, being hit with something heavy. Boris hitting him and then allowing the dumb brothers to beat the crap out of him. Boris’s plan and turning him down, then pain, oh so much pain. How had he forgotten?

Tyson spun around as the realisation of why he was in this room hit him, Daichi was here. He spotted the younger blader still sleeping on the cot type bed they had supplied for him. Walking quickly over to his team mate, Tyson checked to make sure nothing bad had happened to him during the night. As he drew closer he could hear Daichi mumbling in his sleep.

“Gonna beat you…Tyson. I’m gonna be…the best, you wait…and see. Gonna make you…proud of me.”

Yep, Daichi was definitely okay. Unfortunately it was at this time that his body started reminding him of all his injuries. Stumbling back over to the bed, Tyson lowered himself down and began to take stock. His wrists looked pretty bad and hurt a whole hell of a lot, the morphine the doc had given him must have worn off during the night. The burns on his arms seemed to be healing nicely, that ointment the doc used had really helped.

Thinking about the doc made Tyson wonder just what it was Boris had done to the man after he was escorted from the room. Doctor Taylor had been a nice guy, Tyson couldn’t imagine what was so bad that he had ended up here. He ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly realising as he did that it could do with a good wash. ‘Come to think of it, when was the last time I had a shower that wasn’t a cold bucket of water thrown by the dumber twins?’

Knowing that Daichi would be fine alone for a while he headed to the en-suite he had noticed before he had fallen asleep. He quickened his pace a little when his bladder reminded him that it still needed to be emptied. Quickly pushing the door closed Tyson all but threw himself towards the toilet, wasting no time at all standing before it and relieving himself, he almost sighed in contentment.

Flushing the toilet Tyson wandered over to the mirror hanging above the sink, he almost didn’t recognise the face that stared back. It had black eyes and little cuts crisscrossing the nose, the hair was a mass of greasy locks just begging to be washed or brushed or preferably both. ‘Is that really me?’ Tyson thought, despair clearly heard in his inner voice. ‘Ugg I need a shower’.

He walked over to the shower and switched it on, allowing it time to heat to a suitable temperature. Gingerly he removed his shirt, wincing at the pain it caused just passing over his bare back. That done he proceeded to remove his trousers and boxers, he hadn’t worn socks for a while now, he never really had the energy to put them on in between torture sessions.

Once he was completely naked he looked down at his body, just the parts he could see made him cringe with remembered pain. Deciding that he really didn’t need those visuals to come back he walked over to the shower and tested the water. Satisfied that the temperature wouldn’t burn him, he stepped into the flow and took in a sudden breath at the pain the water caused. Deciding that it was nothing compared to what he had already been through, he started to relax and looked around for the soap and shampoo.

The shampoo was vanilla scented and he turned his nose up at the thought that he was going to smell like a girl but beggars couldn’t be choosers and his hair was begging to be washed. Dumping a handful of the sweet smelling liquid into his hands he began massaging it into his scalp carefully, working over each strand of hair, determined to remove all the grime from the room of pain. Leaving the foamy substance in his hair, he picked up the soap, deciding against using anything that might reopen his wounds he used just his hand and worked the soap over his entire body.

When he reached his groin he closed his eyes and pictured Kai. What would it be like to have him doing this? Just the thought sent thrill waves speeding through his body and his cock twitched slightly. ‘What am I thinking?’ Tyson thought, angry at himself. ‘I’m in mortal danger, my friend is lying in the next room saved for the moment from having his spirit sucked out and I’m thinking of Kai. It’s not like he would ever look at me that way anyway.’

Tyson moved his hands away from his slightly miffed cock and stepped fully under the flow of water. Closing his eyes and ignoring the twinges of pain, he rinsed himself off and then stuck his head under the flow. Careful to make sure he removed all of the shampoo, he turned and leaned his head back so that only his hair was hit by the drops of water. He began to work through his options which were rather limited.

Nobody knew where he and Daichi were, Daichi was in a bad state and Tyson was no better off. Boris was going to want Tyson to hold up his end of the deal and blade against his new and improved bit beasts. He had less than a day until that happened and there was still no guarantee that Boris would honour his side of it. For all Tyson knew Boris would wait until he was out of the room and then hook Daichi back up to that evil machine. Then to top it all off, there was still dumb and dumber to consider, it wasn’t like they would just back down.

“What am I going to do?” Tyson asked the universe in general and as if it had heard him a reply sounded in his head. You already know what to do, you just have to be willing to risk it all. ‘What did that bloody mean?’ Tyson yelled inside his own head but this time there was no reply.

A thought danced across his mind, one he had thought before but dismissed as too crazy even for him. After all, he may have thrown himself in front of Dragoon to stop attacks from other spirits but he still had a modicum of common sense. At least he hoped he did.

Stepping out of the shower and switching it off his mind kept being drawn back to that one thought. ‘There’s no way I could pull it off, not in my state’ he told himself but the thought refused to lie down and play dead. Drying off as carefully as he could, he wrapped the towel around his waist and went back into the main room heading straight for the drawer that housed his clean and pressed clothes. He got dressed in record time, far faster than he ever had at home even with grampa chasing him with a kendo stick.

With nothing left to do he sat on the edge of the bed looking at Daichi. This was his fault, Daichi being in this situation. Even though it was Boris that had started it, this was his own fault, he should have seen it coming, known that Boris never stays down for long. They never should have let their guards down like they did, they got comfortable and that was always a mistake. Just when he felt that the tears would start falling again, he heard a small voice say his name.

“Tyson?”

“I’m here Daichi, you don’t have to worry”. Tyson told the young blader as he roughly swept the almost shed tears from his eyes.

“We couldn’t find you.”

“I know.” Tyson moved closer to Daichi’s bed, kneeling down beside him and placing a comforting hand on his friends arm.

“We looked and looked but everywhere we went nobody had seen you. Even Kenny and Dizzy couldn’t find you” Daichi’s voice was getting stronger with every passing moment but still he made no move to sit up.

“That’s okay Daichi, I understand. I’m fine, see.” Daichi looked up at the bluenette and reached out his hand to touch Tyson’s, as if to reassure himself that he really was there and it wasn’t an elaborate trick. Tyson smiled at him and Daichi visibly relaxed at this conformation that he wasn’t still dreaming. “So how did you find me?”

“Kenny and me, we were walking by this house and I got a weird feeling.” Daichi told his team mate rather cryptically.

“Okay…you wanna explain that?”

“I got a weird feeling from this house, I thought it was just the gargoyles that were weirding me out but later when I tried to sleep the thought wouldn’t go away so I decided to check it out.”

“You came alone when you didn’t know what was going on?” Daichi winced at the harshness of Tyson’s tone. Not that he could blame him, he had acted like an idiot.

“I was only doing what you would do.” Daichi said a little sulkily. Tyson’s face visibly softened at that last remark. Daichi was right, he would have gone alone rather than involve the others but he would have done it to protect them, Daichi did it because he was an idiot.

“That still doesn’t excuse you, you know better.”

“You sound like grampa.” Daichi told the older teen which made Tyson look at him in shock. ‘Oh no, he did not just say that’ Tyson thought in horror, ‘since when do I sound like an adult?’ he thought in despair. Hiding his irritation at being likened to an old person Tyson looked down at Daichi with what he hoped were teenaged eyes.

“Tell me the rest Daichi” he said softly to the young boy.

“I was making my way round the house, looking for…well you. I was hiding so nobody could see me and looking through the windows and I saw Boris. I knew that meant you were here so I turned to run and fetch the others only I wasn’t looking where I was going and kinda ran into a…brick wall.”

“How did that make you get captured?” Tyson asked, again getting confused with what Daichi was telling him.

“The brick wall had a name.” Daichi told Tyson in a small voice. Light dawned in Tyson and he almost smirked at the fact that both he and Daichi had come to think of the two men not as people but as objects.

“I call them dumb and dumber” Tyson told the orange haired blader.

“Suits them” Daichi replied sourly.

“What about the others?” Tyson asked quite diplomatically he thought when all he really wanted to know was how Kai was doing.

“Max and Rei have been out looking for you non stop.”

“Rei and Maxie are here?” Tyson asked shocked, “why?”

“They were coming over for something Mr D had planned, but it all got put on hold when we realised you were missing.” Tyson had had no idea that his friends and team mates were even in the country let alone scouring the city looking for him. He hoped they were okay, he didn’t want anymore of his friends getting caught. “Hillary and Kenny have been working around the clock too, Hillary hasn’t even tried to kill me in a few days.” Tyson laughed at the comment.

“That’s not like her. Usually you say something that annoys her on a daily basis.”

“Yea…hey!”

“And what about Kai?” Tyson asked in what he hoped was an unconcerned voice.

“He’s been really upset, I’ve never seen him like this. It’s kinda frightening, I’d hate to go up against him when he’s like this.” Tyson’s heart almost skipped a beat at the thought that Kai might be worried about him but he damped it down, not daring to even hope. “Tyson.”

“What is it Daichi?”

“Boris showed me something to prove that you were really here.” Tyson’s gut clenched, he so didn’t want Daichi knowing what they had done to him.

“What kind of thing?” Tyson asked, his voice wavering slightly.

“It was a DVD, a recording.” Daichi hesitated, not quite sure what to say next. “You were in a room…with chains…and whips…” Daichi’s voice trailed off at the sight of the tears slipping quietly down Tyson’s cheeks.

“I didn’t want you to ever know about that.” Tyson said, not even bothering to hide his pain.

“Why not?” Daichi asked, confused by Tyson’s words.

“It’s not something you or Kenny or Hillary should ever have to deal with. Even Max wouldn’t be able to handle the thought of that.”

“Tyson I don’t understand.” Daichi’s voice was pleading for answers that Tyson wasn’t sure how to give.

“Kai and Rei, they can handle this kind of stuff, especially Kai after what he’s been through in his life. But you and Hill and Kenny and even Max, you should never have to know it even exists.”

“You don’t have to protect us Tyson, we’re not children.” Daichi told him, angry that Tyson would think that way.

“I know that” Tyson replied sadly, “but that’s what a family does. The older brothers protect the younger ones, that’s the way it works.” Tears sprang into Daichi’s eyes, he had never been considered as family before, it felt good.

“Tyson I…” Daichi was interrupted before he could finish what he was trying to say by the sound of the doors opening.

“Ah boys” came a voice like lead “I see you are awake, good.” Boris stood in the open doorway, a vision of malicious intent and smiled his horrible smile at the two boys inside. Standing quickly, not wanting to be at a disadvantage, Tyson glared at the man that was their captor.

“What do you want Boris? Didn’t the doc say I had a day?”

“Yes, I do believe the good doctor said something to that respect. I just wanted to check up on you, make sure you had everything you needed.” Boris said his voice full of false concern.

“We’re fine. Might be even better with something to eat.” ‘Yep, even in mortal danger, my mouth still just won’t stop working’ Tyson thought, inwardly cringing at what repercussions his remarks might cause. Boris’s face barely registered his disbelief that Tyson would be so forthright even in the face of danger.

“I think that can be arranged” came the frosty reply “after all, we need you in top condition.” Tyson continued to glare at the man, biting back all the nasty things he wanted to say to him.

“How long do I have left?” Tyson asked almost forcefully.

“You have until dawn tomorrow. That is when the machines and the new bit beasts will be ready” and with that Boris turned and swept out of the room barking commands at the closest goons to get the boys anything they wanted. ‘After all’ thought Tyson sourly ‘he wouldn’t want me to be weak, that wouldn’t be any fun’.

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Kenny had finally let his brain drag him out of bed and as soon as he was ready he had gone to his office and begun inputting the new algorithms that would speed up Dizzy’s processing time. As each member of his team, including Garland and Brooklyn, had come to check in he had taken their beyblades from them. It had taken some doing to get Kai to relinquish his but when Kenny had promised him that what he was going to do would make Dranzer twice as powerful, Kai had told him to do his first.

Kenny had been impressed that Max had already done most of the work needed for Draciel, the blade only needing an upload of some new data to make it complete. He hadn’t needed to do much to Brooklyn’s blade either, it was already as powerful as it was going to get for a while. He had just been finishing Drigger’s upgrade when Dizzy started to shout.

“Chief, we need to get the others back here now.”

“What is it Dizzy?” Kenny asked the spirit, momentarily forgetting his work to focus on his laptop.

“I’ve found Boris.”